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Technology is changing the way students learn in the classroom. Teachers are responding with enthusiasm, and students are the beneficiaries, said Derrel Fincher of the state Education Department.

BY CARRIE COPPERNOLL •
Published: April 28, 2013

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Young children learning all the basics of reading, math and other subjects are going to school with a new style of classroom and teaching.

And even more changes are on the horizon, said Derrel Fincher, director of learning technologies at the state Education Department.

Cesar Chavez Elementary School teacher Lauren Nelson works with first-graders on a reading assignment at the school in southwest Oklahoma City. PHOTO BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN

One of the most evident changes can be seen in classrooms themselves.

Students are working together across grade levels, Fincher said. Project-based learning is more common. Remote laboratories and simulators will allow students in small or rural schools to experience the world like students in large, urban districts, Fincher said.

“That’s something that will be very powerful for students to do,” he said.

Identifying weaknesses

Computers can identify areas where children struggle, like homonyms or capitalization. Education programs can adapt to those needs, Fincher said.

“It can focus more on those areas that you’re struggling with instead of giving the same thing to everybody,” he said.

Also, curriculum is changing rapidly.

Teachers and students now have access to a vast amount of data, and the amount of knowledge available to the world will only expand.

It will allow students to shift from finding data to analyzing it, Fincher said. It’s a shift from what to why.

“Data used to be the end point,” he said. “Now it’s the beginning point.”